Wednesday,
February 20th, another evening in our little corner of
paradise spent with friends who love to write. With twenty-two in
attendance, our “meet and greet” at 6:00 pm was a chance to catch
up on all the social issues before we kicked off the regular meeting
at 6:30pm. We welcomed new guest Rachel Fritsch, and again welcomed
Pat Patterson who makes the drive all the way up from Punta Gorda,
and Christine Burton, who drives down from Bradenton! We also
welcomed back one of the original members of our group, Bart Stamper,
who later read a sensitive, engrossing story that is worthy of its
own posting. It is posted at
http://fwasarasota.blogspot.com/2013/02/wednesday-6-20-2013-part-1.html.
The
meeting started with thanks to AJ and Joanne Robinson of the Florida
Writers Association who spoke at the last meeting. As I will try to
have at least one meeting a month with special presentations, I am
pleased to announce Julie Ann Howell, publisher and founder of
Peppertree Press and the The Pepper Tree Magazine, will be our
presenter at the March 6th meeting. It will be a special
event for those who contributed to the Remembrance of Ed Lyman. Plan
to be here.
The
results of the recent Englewood Dearborn Street Book Festival were
announced and writers from our group won several awards!
Congratulations to Don Westerfield for winning First Place with his
Short Story, and to Ann Favreau who won Second Prize in the same
category. Not content with winning Third place in the Poetry entry,
Christine Burton also took First Place in Poetry. Congratulations to
all the writers who won awards, and to all those who submitted
writings to be considered.
Speaking
of Literary Awards, the Royal Palm Literary submissions of the
Florida Writers Association are open. For entry information, click
on:
Rod
DiGruttolo once again handled the “gavel” and the meeting opened
with Susan Davis reading the opening segment of her epic trip
from Key West to Punta Gorda by bicycle. Most people have trouble
driving across the Everglades on Tamiami Trail in a car, much less by
bike! Susan gave new definition to a “bug with her printer,” so
she read from a hand-written pad jotted down quickly one morning.
More jotting, Susan, we want to hear more!
Kerri
Dieffenwierth's great “Bear Bear” began with a “No Gators”
warning and showed Kerri's ability to show, not tell, about the
truths in life. The spiral notebooks bound for the trash pile caught
everyone's ear.
Bart
Stamper was welcomed back with his “Point Blank,” given its own
special space on the blog. He said he was “Rusty, and so is this
writing.” No, it's not, and neither is Bart. Welcome back. Great
writing.
Joanne
Phillips read next, but not from her book, Adventures
of a Sea Hag, because it was
recently published! Congratulations, Joanne. Instead, she read Don
Westerfield's I'll Remember
You. A
Marine's wife will always be number two, but not in Don's writing. A
really nicely done short story.
After
a short break, we returned with a few announcements and Barbara
Frickel read a short excerpt from the Encyclopedia of Great Writers,
just to keep our egos in check. Chris Burton's razor-sharp “Poem
to That One”
showed why she took 1st
and 3rd
at the Dearborn Street festival. She followed her own poem by
reading Kat Levato's timely “He
Bled for You”
which left several in tears, both because of Kat's great writing and
Chris's powerful reading.
Andrew
Parker continued his engaging and engrossing tales of “Blake
Brimstone,” Brain Surgeon because Blake doesn't like the name
Neurosurgeon. No descriptions I could write could accurately capture
Andrew's writing, you have to hear it for yourself. Suffice to say
if it were a screenplay, Johnny Depp would play Blake Brimstone. “A
bunch of birds. Man, that was a lot of birds.”
Bill
Elam continued with his old man in the autumn of his years anthology,
when a man takes control of his life. “Her dance card was for
him...”
Pat
Patterson, with his unmistakable Mississippi drawl, caught everyone
off guard with his reading of his first-novel-in progress titled “The
Takers,” set in the year 1003 in Scandinavia. The discussion
that followed his reading was intent and engrossing. His epic Viking
tale has everyone's interest and curiosity, this is going to be a
great story.
Ed
Ellis followed with his marvelous Valentine poems for his
grandchildren, then started on a piece written while drinking “sweet
tea.” Ed never fails to capture the listeners, even evoking one
comment, “What was in the tea?”
Lois
Stern read an entry from her Tales2Inspire contest that stumped both
her and the other judges. An engaging, well written story that
simply did not “Inspire” the reader, and therefore did not
satisfy the rules of the contest. Still, it was a lesson for all
about why we write.
Cecile
Bell quickly read her humorous piece about Humpty Dumpty as we once
again ran over time a little, and our apologies to Laura Heath who
will be at the top of the list for the next reading.
Remember,
Julie Ann Howell, publisher and founder of Peppertree Press and the
The Pepper Tree Magazine, will be our presenter at the March 6th
meeting. Don't miss it.
George
